The Effect of Practical Intelligence Instruction on Iranian EFL Learners’ Anxiety in Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Previous studies done in different target languages have shown that foreign language learners experience anxiety when they are engaged in reading target passages, and the high foreign language reading anxiety level negatively affects reading effectiveness and performance (Breznitz, 1991; Sellers, 2000). On the other hand, nowadays it has been determined that for successful performance of people in every field such as education, in addition to academic intelligence or IQ, practical intelligence is needed.Given the above issue this study has been conducted to examine the effect of practical intelligence instruction on intermediate EFL learners’ anxiety in reading comprehension. Hence, after administering a standard language proficiency test, 40 intermediate learners out of a pile of 80 EFL learners were selected and randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. The FLRAS questionnaire was employed as the pretest to the both groups and then merely the experimental group received a series of practical intelligence instructions. At the end of the semester the same questionnaire was administered to the whole participants again. Finally, in order to capture the objectives of the study, paired sample t-test and an independent t-test were used to analyze the data.  The results indicated that there was a significant difference between intermediate EFL learners who had passed the practical intelligence instruction course and those who have not in terms of the level of their anxiety in reading comprehension. Pedagogical implications are proposed for English reading instruction, textbook design and book publication.